“12 Angry Men” A work of “American conscience” that questions true democracy

Sidney Lumet's outstanding direction

First, Sidney Lumet locked all the actors in a room and rehearsed relentlessly. One of the reasons was that the filming period was short, so it was necessary to be perfectly prepared, but it was also important to have the actors feel the psychological state of being trapped in a small room with 12 people. That was the biggest reason.

We were also particular about lens selection and camera position. The jury room was calculated to become more airtight as the film progressed towards the end. Let me quote from an interview with Sidney Lumet himself.

"I wanted the room to seem smaller and smaller as the film progressed. That meant moving to lenses with longer focal lengths as the film progressed. Initially I started with regular lenses (28mm ~40mm), then moved on to 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm lenses.Then we shot the first third of the film from high up, the middle at eye level, and the last third at eye level. I took the photo below eye level.”

“12 Angry Men” (C)2017 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. Distributed by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment LLC.

In the final scene, the camera moves outside the courthouse for the first time, and by switching from the closed space and using a pull shot, a sense of freedom is created, as if released from everything.

The use of props is also clever. Juror No. 4, who refuses to take off his suit in the stuffy room, boasts, ``I don't sweat,'' but when he confronts Juror No. 8, he realizes that his theory is wrong, and sweat drips down his forehead. Wipe it with a handkerchief. His sense of defeat becomes even clearer when he ``wipes his forehead with a handkerchief.''

The production is also skillful in expressing the psychological state of the characters through small movements rather than dialogue. There is a scene in which the jurors who vote ``not guilty'' raise their hands one after another, but Lumet intentionally does not show each person's face, just their hands. As a result, it becomes clear that Juror No. 12's hand is relatively weak, and he eloquently states that he "has a hard time deciding between guilt and innocence; he is a person who cannot make decisions on his own." . Hmm, what an amazing performance skill!

Democracy questioned by “12 Angry Men”